Flickering Images: A Tale of Nobuyuki Masaki
by Kei Masaki
Summary: Tenchi's father in a rare moment of introspection


Flickering Images: A Tale of Nobuyuki Masaki  
  
Tenchi and company are property of AIC and Pioneer, yatta yatta yatta.  
  
I seat myself on the couch, turning the video case over in my hands. Finally, I  
pick up the remote, point it at the video player, and hit the play switch....  
"I'm home!" I quickly kill the VCR and hide look around frantically for some  
place to hide the box. This had been the perfect time for me to watch this video.   
Mihoshi and Kiyone were off patrolling the solar system, Ayeka and Ryoko were outside  
fighting, Sasami was visiting Washu in her lab with Ryo-ohki, Dad was up at the  
shrine....and most importantly, Tenchi was at school.  
And now he's not. Musta skipped kendo club or something. He steps in the door,  
heading up to his room, and he sees me in the living room. "Hey, Dad, whatcha doing  
home so early?" He then sees me holding the video box and his face clouds over.   
"Dad...."  
I look down at the box, and then back up at my son. "Uh, Tenchi! I didn't expect  
you home so early! How wa--"  
He glares at me. "Dad, what's the video?"  
"Uhh....nothing." I drop it on the table and stand up. "Tenchi, how much  
homework do you have tonight?"  
He eyes me suspiciously. "None. Why?"  
I pull out my wallet and empty every yen I have into his hands. "Go out. See a  
movie. Take the girls."  
"But, Dad--"  
I manage a hearty laugh. "Well, Tenchi, get going! I'll tell your grandfather to  
forget about practice tonight. You're getting so good nowadays that he needs a break."  
"Dad?" Tenchi is watching me with a worried expression. "Are you sure you're  
all right?"  
I nod quickly. "I'm fine, son. Go change into some comfortable clothes.   
Mihoshi and Kiyone ought to be back any minute now."  
He watches me for a few moments before nodding and heading up the stairs.  
In the end, it takes nearly an hour to get everyone out of the house. In the process  
I received more than a few dirty looks from Washu and Kiyone, who think they know  
what my plans are. Oh, well.  
The door slides shut. I watch them out the window until they're out of sight, and  
then I settle myself in front of the TV. I've been waiting for this all day. The VCR  
clicks on, the tape starts playing....  
Achika, wrapped in a kimono, is humming to herself while fixing breakfast.   
Presently, she becomes aware that there is another presence in the room, and she turns  
around and gasps in exaggerated shock, a playful smile on her face. "Nobuyuki! What  
are you doing?"  
If Tenchi had looked more closely at the video box, he would have seen the label  
"Home movies--Summertime '84."  
My voice answers, clearer and stronger than it is now: "Just smile for the camera,  
love."  
She gestures at herself. "But look at me! I just got up, and I'm a mess!"  
"You're perfect," I assure her. "Now, just smile for me...."  
She smirks at me for a moment, then grabs a spatula and starts singing. Even now  
I have to supress the urge to wince; my Achika was perfect in every way except singing  
voice. After a few minutes of attempting a rendition of a popular American pop tune, she  
stops and smiles at me. "Now will you turn that thing off? Your breakfast is getting  
cold."  
I laugh along with her and myself. It's not that difficult to imagine her stepping  
out of the kitchen, wearing an apron reading "Kiss the Cook" in English, to gently chide  
me about watching these videos. "We have plenty of time to watch memories," she  
would say. "Why don't we concentrate on making some?"  
Oh, how I wish I'd listened to her....  
  
If you ask Tenchi what I'm like, he'd say that I'm somewhat self-absorbed and  
something of a "dirty old man."   
If you told him that the "dirty old man" part was a facade, he would drop on the  
floor laughing. When finally able to form coherent sentences, he would sputter, "My  
dad's not that clever!"  
And if you told him the reason that his father acts like this--to keep anyone he  
might find himself attracted to at a distance--he would give you the look that people  
reserve for the untreatably insane.  
It's all right. I suppose he has every right to think that kind of thing. I haven't  
exactly been a good father. Not since Achika died.   
He can't understand what it feels like to have your very soul ripped away from  
you, and to know that you will never see it in this life again. Yes, Tenchi lost his mother.   
Yes, that is a tragedy. But he didn't lose the one who made his life worth living.  
I did.  
But, then again, this is not knowledge I would wish on my son. This is wisdom  
that I would prefer to have lived in blissful ignorance of. The eighteen months I spent in  
a bottle after her death did little to numb this knowledge, and the years have only  
sharpened the pain instead of dulling it. Whoever said that time heals all wounds was  
either incredibly stupid or incredibly crazy.  
Oh, Tenchi.  
I can see the one that he loves. The knowledge would come as a great surprise to  
all the other girls, but I think it makes perfect sense. She is so much like Achika, so  
beautiful, even when angry, and so gentle. And I can see that she loves him. It's a  
mystery to me how everyone else keeps missing it, though. Even them.   
Tenchi, this is what I've been trying to tell you all along. When you see the one  
you want, go after her. She won't be here forever. Sooner or later, someone else who  
isn't so discreet will steal her away, or she may decide that spending her career in a  
backwater pining for a guy who can't make up his mind is pointless. Tenchi, ask her to  
stay.  
Please.   
I ask this not for myself, out of any desire for grandchildren (although God knows  
I would like to be a grandpa before I die), but because I don't want you to let her slip  
away. I was so lucky with your mother. She was an angel from heaven (or from Jurai, as  
the case turned out to be). I can see so much of her in this one girl, and you would be a  
fool to let her walk away without at least trying to tell her how you feel.  
Sleep is overtaking me again. The image of Achika on the screen is now tending  
to breakfast, turning back from time to time to smile at me. Pixelized image and reality  
begin to blur as my eyes defocus. My only rest is in my dreams, where Achika is alive  
and we have a grandchild on the way. It'll just be a matter of time....  
As unconsciousness takes me, my last thought is: Please, Tenchi, don't let her  
get away. Don't let Kiy--  
  
The door slides open and the girls file into the house, still talking about the  
movie. Tenchi brings up the rear and shuts it behind them.   
"That was a good movie!" says Sasami excitedly. Ryo-ohki mi-yas in agreement.  
Kiyone nods and stretches, yawning. For a brief second, her eyes meet Tenchi's  
and they linger for an instant before breaking away.  
"Are you and Mihoshi working tomorrow?" he asks.  
Kiyone shakes her head. "We finally got a day off." She sighs. "Of course, we'll  
probably have to spend the whole time answering emergency calls."  
"You're welcome to stay the night," Tenchi offers, trying not too sound to eager.  
She looks up, trying to hide the sudden sparkle in her eyes. "Uhh, thank you,  
Tenchi, I think we'll take you up on that offer. Won't we, Miho--" She groans as she  
sees her partner already asleep on the floor. "Oh, great."  
"Don't worry about it," says Ryoko. "Just let her sleep on the floor. She won't  
know the difference." Her gaze falls upon the sleeping form of Nobuyuki. "Hey, Tenchi,  
your dad's crashed on the couch."  
Tenchi rolls his eyes in exasperation. "Oh, brother. Did he fall asleep watching  
dirty movies again?" He glares at the TV. Whatever movie his father may have been  
watching has long since played out, for the only thing on-screen is static. Reaching for  
the remote, he sees the video box. "What was it tonight?" he wonders aloud. He picks it  
up, looks at the label, and drops the box, an amazed expression on his face.  
Kiyone is the first to notice this. "Tenchi, what's wrong?"  
"N-n-nothing...." Unaware of the strange and worried looks the girls are giving  
him, Tenchi picks up the remote and hits the play button. The screen goes from static to  
blue, and then....to his mother, smiling at the camera. "Nobuyuki!" she scolds playfully.   
"Put that camera down and give your wife a kiss!" The picture shifts, and Tenchi's  
father, not much different in appearance but walking taller and looking more alive than  
today, comes into the frame. He picks up Achika in his arms and starts kissing her,  
causing her to giggle like a schoolgirl and kick her feet in the air.  
Tenchi is staring transfixed at the screen, and the girls are all doing likewise.   
"That's your mom, Tenchi," says Sasami quietly.  
Tenchi nods. His hand, while still holding the remote, refuses to move. Finally,  
he manages to bring it up and point it at the TV. The screen goes blank. He looks over  
at his father, the amazed expresion still on his face. A smile slowly grows on his face.   
Wordlessly he rushes upstairs and retrieves a blanket. Draping it over his father's prone  
form, he leans down and whispers in Nobuyuki's ear, "Good night, dad." He then moves  
over to.Mihoshi. Taking her by the arms, he tells Kiyone, "You take her feet, and we'll  
carry her up to bed.  
  
In another realm, a beautiful woman looks down on a man asleep on a couch.   
Her eyes are brimming over with love as she gazes at him. "Hello, my love," she tells  
him. "I've been waiting all day for you. Now we have all night to be together."  
The man shifts in his sleep. A small smile, not unlike that of a husband arriving  
home to find his beloved wife waiting at the door for him, appears on his face.  
  
  
The End  
  
  
Author's Notes: This is my first solo fanfic, and the result of several months  
spent psychoanalyzing anime characters. This may be a little choppy at times, but I  
believe it gets the point across. What point is that, you may ask? The point is that  
Nobuyuki is not just a dirty old man. He is a man who lost the love of his life  
inexplicably and cannot bring himself to try again (that would be too much like betraying  
Achika), so he creates this shell that keeps out anyone who he might be attracted to. I  
might well do the same if I lost the woman I loved. As to why Tenchi doesn't know it's  
an act: Nobuyuki's been keeping this up for so long it almost is real. The real man is  
still there, but he rarely ventures forth anymore. He has little reason to.  
  
Any comments or suggestions are welcome. I hope to produce a more refined  
version of this in the future, but this will suffice for now. Send all messages to   
keiichi masaki@hotmail.com or to lordyosho@hotmail.com (yes, I am also the Lord  
Yosho that co-writes Mugen Tenchi Muyo! For those reader who would like to connect  
this into that FF series' chronology, it takes place just before episode #1, "No Need For  
New Arrivals!"  
  
"I can't wait to see it....your dream house."  
"Our dream is still very much alive even now, right, Achika?"  
"Yes. Time is short, but Nobuyuki and I will live our lives to the fullest, I swear.   
That's all that really matters."  
  



End file.
